Roofing element



April 14, 1936. EEVE 2,037,268

- ROOFTING ELEMENT Filed Jan. 5, 19:51

m" m m" INVENTOR CHARLES s. REEVE ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 14, 1936 UNITEDSTATES- ROOFING ELEMENT Charles S. Reeve, Leonia, N. .L, assignor to TheBarrett Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication January 3, 1931, Serial No. 506,425

1 Claim. (Cl. 154-51) This invention relates to rigid compositionroofing elements and to a process for making such elements. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a rigid composition shingle whichmay be used in place of the wood, cement asbestos, or other rigidshingles and as distinguished from the flexible felt shingles nowcommonly employed in the formation of roofs.

One object of this invention is to provide a 1g rigid waterproof roofingelement that may be used in place of wood, cement asbestos, or otherrigid shingles and may be laid on open decks in the same manner as woodshingles are applied thereto.

u Another object of this invention is to provide a composition roofingelement having as its base a relatively thick sheet or board composed ofannual vegetable crop fibers alone or admixed with suitable fillers suchas paper stock, rag stock,

Q mineral fibers, etc., the sheet containing a major proportion ofannual vegetable crop fibers or other coarse fibers so that it is porousand absorbent and therefore may be saturated and coated with bituminousmaterial such as asphalt or pitch to form a comparatively light rigidroofing element.

A further object of the invention is to provide a process for themanufacture of rigid roofing elements having a relatively coarseabsorbent base of fibrous material of sufilcient thickness to beinherently rigid. Other objects and advantages of this invention willappear from the following detailed description.

Composition shingles having heretofore been It! made by forming a thinsheet of felt consisting largely of finely beaten rag stock in apapermaking machine, saturating the sheet by passage through a bath ofasphalt, coating the saturated sheet with asphalt, surfacing the coatedfabric with granular material and then cutting the surfaced sheet intoshingles of the desired shape. Roofing felt and shingles produced inthis manner, it will be noted, consist chiefly of a relatively thinflexible fibrous sheet which has no U inherent rigidity and consequentlyif unsupported throughout substantially its entire surface area, willsag and disrupt the felt sheet. The heretofore known felt roofing hasnot been and cannot be laid on roof decks consisting of spaced lathsI-in the manner that wood and other rigid shingles are applied for thereason that the felt shingles would sag between the points of support.This obviously would impair the weather and waterproof properties of theroof deck and would rell suit in an unsightly roof covering. Thewellknown wood shingle has the serious objection that it is flammable.Cement asbestos shingles, tiles and other rigid shingles of this typeare objectionable because of their increased weight as compared withwood and felt shingles, they require a stronger support and thusincrease the cost of the roof covering. Further, cement shingles arerelatively expensive to manufacture and therefore have been found usefulin connection with relatively expensive dwellings only.

I have discovered that a comparatively inexpensive, light, rigid,fire-resistant shingle can be made from a fibrous base composed ofcoarse fibrous material such as annual vegetable crop fibers, forexample, corn stalks, cotton stalks, straw, flax, bagasse, or sugarcane, alone or admixed with suitable fillers such as paper stock, ragstock, asbestos or other mineral fibers which may be incorporated withthe coarse fibers to ive desired characteristics to the sheet or boardutilized in the formation of the base of the shingle. The base ispreferably made on a paper or board machine in accordance withconventional paper or board making practice. Preferably, the base ismade at least 5 of an inch thick. The fibrous base is then saturatedwith waterproofing material such as asphalt preferably under vacuum sothat the air spaces and voids therein are substantially filled withbituminous material. A coating of waterproof bitumen may then be appliedto one or both faces of the saturated board to form the shingle element.If desired, granular mineral material of one or more colors, such ascolored slate, may be applied to and embedded into the coating. Beforeor after the surfacing with the granular material the coated sheet maybe cut into individual or strip shingles simulating individual shinglesof any shape or contour. A rigid waterproof and weatherproofcomparatively light and inexpensive shingle element which issubstantially fireproof is thus produoed.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification, v

Fig. 1 represents in perspective a portion of a roof covered withshingles embodying one form of this invention;

Fig. 2 shows in perspective a shingle with portions cut away to indicatethe different layers constituting the shingle element; and I Fig. 3 is afragmentary cross-sectionv of .the shingle on an enlarged scale takenalong the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, the shingle has as its base aboard or sheet 4 prepared from any of the above mentioned fibers ashereinafter more fully pointed out. This base is saturated andpreferably also coated with waterproof material-such as asphalt or otherbituminous materials. A thin coating 5 of bituminous material may beapplied to the under side of the saturated fibrous board. Powdered mica,talc or other granular material 6 may then be dusted onto the coating 5to provide the shingle element with a non-adhering rear surface. Theface of the shingle may be coated with bituminous material l andsurfaced with granular material 8 which may be of a single or variegatedhue. The granular mineral particles may be applied to form desireddesign lines or configurations on the exposed face of the shingle.Instead of applying mineral material in the form of designconfigurations, designs may be painted on the granular facing or thefacing may be eliminated and designs painted, embossed or otherwiseformed on the bituminous coating. Further, in lieu of having the shingleof uniform thickness it may be tapered or otherwise shaped. The shingleafter saturation and coating of the fibrous base preferably has athickness of at least $4; of an inch and may have a thickness of of aninch or more.

One manner of laying the shingles on a roof deck is shown in Fig. l. Theindividual shingles II, which in the embodiment illustrated. areapproximately 9 inches wide and 16 inches long, are placed on the spacedsupporting laths l2 which are carried by the supporting timber ID. Theforward and rear edges of the shingles rest on the laths II, the portionof the shingles between laths I! being unsupported. The shingle elementsare laid in courses with the lower edges of the shingles of one courseoverlapping the. upper portions of the shingles of a lower course, per.-mitting the exposure of a suitable portion of the shingle to theweather. Nails or other fasteners I! pass through the covered portionsof the shingles as shown and secure them to the laths II, theoverlapping shingles covering the nails or fasteners. The shinglesmaintain their shape by virtue of the inherent rigidity which theypossess. As the edges II of the shingles are of an appreciable thicknessand are several times the thickness of the edges of ordinary roofingfelt shingles, they stand out in relief, imparting a pleasing ornamentalappearance to the roof. Consequently, the shingles of this inventionhave greater architectural value than the usual felt shingle.

The base or board 4 in accordance with this in vention is preferablymade from annual vegetable crop fibers such as corn stalks, either rawor cooked, cotton stalks, sugar cane, flax, straw or bagasse alone oradmixed with a minor proportion of suitable filler. I have discoveredthat a rigid relatively light shingle element may be produced bysaturating a board or sheet made of suitable thickness from coarsefibers of the type above indicated with bituminous material.

Satisfactory bases may be produced by mixing straw fiber with paperstock in the proportion of 70% of the former to 30% of the latter, thepercentages being based on the end product. The fibers in theproportions indicated are preferably beaten in hot water and may then bemade into a board or relatively thick sheet on a conventional type boardmaking machine.

I have obtained a base of relatively coarse, open and highly absorbentnature by mixing 70% com stalk fibers with 30% paper stock, beating thefibers in cold water and then forming the board in the usual manner. A-satisfactory base has also been obtained by mixing 75% cotton stalkswith 25% paper stock and forming the resulting furnish into a board inaccordance with well-known pulp and board making practice. The examplesabove given are illustrative of furnishes which have been found suitablefor the manufacture of the fibrous board base of this invention. It willbe understood that the invention comprehends as the base element arelatively coarse and highly absorbent fibrous board of sufiicientthickness to be inherently rigid and which might be made by the skilledpulp engineer from annual vegetable crop or other coarse fibers alone oradmixed with suitable fibers or'inert' fillers. If the furnish, whichmay consist of coarse fibers of only one type or a mixture of suchfibers, or one or more coarse fibers admixed with suitable fiber orinert fillers, is such that too porous a base results, the porosity maybe reduced by adding to the furnish paper or rag stock to lessen thevoids or air spaces in the base.

Saturated fibrous bases formed in accordance with my invention have arigidity number of at least approximately 30. The rigidity number isdetermined by ascertaining one one-hundredth of the weight necessary toproduce a deflection of one inch in a test piece of material two incheswide and one-eighth inch thick, supported on its fiat surface byparallel knife edges 12 inches apart, the weight being applied at therate of 3200 grams per minute to the test piece substantially midway ofthe supports.

The rigidity numbers of exemplary fibrous board bases which I have foundsuitable for the manufacture of my improved shingle tested as aboveindicated are as follows:

The above numbers compare with rigidity numbers 9 to 10 obtained bytesting a prepared roofing shingle manufactured from a felt of maximumthickness now on the market.

The following is given as an illustrative embodiment of this invention:

A quantity of corn stalks is subjected in hot water to the action of abeating engine such as that commonly used in the paper industry. Beatingis continued until the fibers are reduced to suitable size withoutreducing them to the fine state of subdivision required for paper. orroofing felt. When the beating is completed, beaten paper stock is mixedwith the com-stalk fiber in the approximate proportion of 33 parts ofthe former to 67 parts of the latter. This mixture, after being wellmixed, is passed over a board machine of conventional design to form aboard of, preferably, at least $4; of an inch thickness but which may befrom A; to of an inch thickness. The boards are dried by subjecting themto a temperature of approximately 100 C. After being dried the boardsare saturated by immersion in hot liquid asphalt, preferably an asphaltof 140 F. to 170 F. softening point, under vacuum until at least 80% ofthe voids in the board are filled with the saturating medium.

The saturated board may be coated with bituminous material and ifdesired surfaced with granular material as indicated above. Before orafter surfacing the saturated fibrous base may be cut into individual orstrip shingles.

The shingle elements of the invention are relatively light, having aspecific gravity of approximately 1.0. This compares with specificgravities of 2.5 and higher of cement shingles. In view of the lightnessof the shingle, the roof deck need not be of the rugged type necessaryfor heavier shingles and consequently an economy in the roof structureis effected not only by the reduced cost of the shingle, but also bydecreasing the cost of the necessary support therefor. Further, theshingle of this invention has a lowerheat conductivity than cement tilesand consequently impedes the flow of heat from the interior of the houseto the atmosphere and also prevents the flow of heat in reversedirection.

Since modifications in the details of the shingle or the carrying out ofthe process might be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

I claim: Y

A rigid waterproofed roofing element having as its base a fibrous boardcomposed of at least a major proportion of coarse absorbent fibrousmaterial in which the fibers are materially coarser than the fibersconstituting the usual fiexibleroofing felt consisting substantiallyentirely of finely beaten rag fibers, said base being substantiallythicker than the thickness of the usual flexible roofing felt and thethickness of said base being such that it is inherently rigid, thecoarse fibrous material causing the formation of larger voids in thebase than in the usual roofing felt so that the said base can be readilywaterproofed by impregnation with molten bituminous material and saidbase being impregnated with said bituminous material so that the voidsbetween the fibers thereof are substantially completely filled with saidbituminous material to render it substantially waterproof.

' CHARLES S. REEVE.

